In Treatment
by Through Darkness
Summary: Max and Alec go under cover at a couple's retreat on a case for Eye's Only. But with all this therapy, they might find something other than a cover up..Max/Alec.
1. In Treatment

"So why don't we start with what brings you two here?"

Max grumbled, her chin resting in her hand with both of her elbows resting on top of her knees. _I'm here because Logan thinks your stupid couples counselling program is an undercover mafia ring covering up several murders, and he can't touch me so he sent me here with…him_.

Alec was sprawled out on the opposite end of the couch with one arm resting over the back of the chair, and one ankle resting on the other knee. He looked incredibly uncomfortable and his leg was bouncing up and down while he drummed his fingers on the arm of the couch.

"Things have been…strained for a while," Max said. They were here as Alec and Max Brady, a young suburban couple who had come to settle their marital disputes. Although the disputes would a) not be solved before they got to the special couples counselling retreat that several couples hadn't been seen from since and b) not ever be solved because Max and Alec weren't married.

She twisted around the wedding ring on her finger. They'd bought them at a pawn shop – picked the first two that matched and weren't engraved. Alec was still bouncing up and down – he didn't have to play the part of nervous husband, he was nervous as hell being anywhere near a psychiatrist.

"Describe _strained._ What's changed in your marriage?"

Dr. Claire Gibbons was thin, with tiny wire framed glasses perched on her nose and a pad of notes clutched in her hand, pen poised to write. Her sandy light hair was tied up into a neat bun, with not a strand out of place. Her attention never wavered from Max and Alec, and she seemed ready to pounce on any information they gave her. It unsettled both of them.

"Uh…" Alec stuttered, not entirely sure what to say. So they probably should've done more prep work – Max had been annoyed enough and hadn't wanted to discuss the "marriage" at all before getting to the office.

So Max just said the first thing the came to her head. "Alec slept with another woman," she answered, trying to sound calm, but her voice wavered a little.

Alec groaned silently. Of course, he had to be the bad guy – Max couldn't have it any other way. Instead of saying anything and blowing their cover he just grit his teeth as the shrink scribbled down notes on her bright yellow legal pad.

"Okay! That's a good start. When was this?" Max swallowed. This shrink seemed far too excited about infidelity.

"Four months ago," Alec muttered, remembering the feisty redhead he'd met at Crash a while back.

"And when was the last time you two had sex?" Dr. Gibbons asked.

"Oh, uh…." Max stuttered and Alec looked a little shocked. They exchanged a few stunned glances between them, but neither transgenic offered up an answer.

"Okay, not a problem. A lot of couples who stop having sex end up with one or both partners turning outside the marriage for sexual satisfaction. Max, have you cheated on Alec?"

"What?" Max nearly choked. "Of course not! I would never-"

"Of course not Max, because you _never_ make mistakes." Alec snorted and she whirled on him, her hair whipping behind her head.

"What is _that_ supposed to mean?" she snapped at him.

"What about Logan, Max? What about all the time that you spend with him?"

Dr. Gibbons perked up, interested. "Who's Logan?"

"He's-" Max started, but the doctor held up a hand to cut her off.

"I'd like Alec to answer please, Max." Max crossed her arms and leaned back into the couch with a 'hmph'. Alec shot a cheeky smile at her and she could just hear the 'so there!' in his head.

"Logan's her ex-boyfriend. They talk every day and he's always asking her to help with his work and she runs off at the drop of a hat." Alec answered, smirking on the inside. Payback? Why yes, you are a bitch.

"Really? Alec, are you concerned that Max and Logan could be having sex?"

"No." He answered automatically.

"Why not?" The doctor asked, adding more notes to the pad.

"He won't touch Max because-" _of a military engineered bio-warfare virus that will kill him if they touch-_ "because he's a germaphobe, so he won't touch her without latex gloves on."

"And Max, what is your answer to the question – who is Logan?"

Max sighed. "He's just a friend. We're not like that and we never were. So I help him out a lot, it's not like he never helps me."

"He was supposed to find Max's family, but he hasn't found any of them," Alec grunted.

The doctor nodded. "Alright. So obviously, we have a lot of conflicting issues here. According to my file, a third party is paying for your counselling?" Max and Alec both nodded once. "Does that mean that your marriage troubles are affecting your work life, your social lives?"

"Not really our work, I think," Alec answered, slowly, considering.

"I have listed that you two work as bike messengers for Jam Pony. Is that correct?" Again, both transgenics nodded.

"Alright. What we're going to do is this – I'd like to see you both individually and then together again – so set up the three appointments with my secretary and I'll be able to get a really good feel for what we need to work on. Okay?"

They nodded and walked out, not touching each other. They spoke with the secretary for a few minutes and both left with a small white card detailing the date and time of their next appointments with Dr. Gibbons.

-x-

"So, you came back."

Alec smiled at the doctor, this time sitting alone in her office, without Max present. "Here I am," he answered.

"Why did you come back, Alec?" Dr. Gibbons pushed her glasses further up her nose, her attention firmly set on her patient in front of her.

"Maybe I just think you're cute," he answered, winking at her. She smiled and waited patiently for a real response, until he gave in. "Look, I said I'd do it. I don't half-ass anything and I'm not starting with my marriage," he grumbled, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Good."

-x-

"Hi, Max."

"Hey," the transgenic answered, her eyes drifting around the room as she sat on the couch, her hands clenched together.

"Max, why did you come back to see me?" The doctor asked.

"To fix my marriage."

"Is it broken?"

"I think so."

"And you want to fix it?"

"That's what I said, Doc."

"Alec, tell me about the first time you met Max."

"We were both working at a VA hospital. We had been partnered up to work on a project, so I went to meet her. She confused me for someone else and wasn't very happy with our assignment. I made some off hand comment, and she got mad."

"What happened next?"

"She kicked me across the room."

"She kicked you? That doesn't sound like something that generally attracts a man to a woman," the doctor remarked.

"What can I say Doc', I like 'em feisty."

"So the jerk just barges in and starts flirting, figuring he's so good looking that I'll automatically drop my pants for him. So I set him straight.'

"How?"

"I kicked him."

"So we worked together on the project for a little while. Just after we had succeeded, the VA hospital was attacked by that terrorist group and we didn't have a job anymore. So I split, left town."

"You came back?"

"I came back."

"Why?"

"I guess I owed her a favour – she saved my life when the hospital blew up, so I felt like I had a debt to settle, you know? So I came back to clear the board."

"He comes back all of a sudden, shows up at Jam Pony looking for a job. Normal just liked the look of him or something', cause he hired him on the spot and told me to train him."

"How'd that go?"

"He annoyed me all day. Didn't listen to a word I said, didn't take any of my advice, and acted like he was king of the freaking world. Drove me nuts."

"What changed your mind?"

"A friend of ours, Joshua, his brother was in trouble. Alec helped, and he really didn't have to. And he was just…there, you know? He didn't take off. I guess I'm used to people running off on me, but Alec stuck around and he never really had to."

"When did you start to see Max as something more?"

"I'm a trouble magnet and she bails me out – even when she didn't like me very much, she'd save my ass. And I kind of like being alive, so I appreciate that. And you start to get to see that Max is really out to help people – she's just uptight. She's been through a lot and she's scared that people are going to up and leave her at any minute, which is probably why she's so cold to most people."

"Max, it sounds like you had the opportunity to be with Logan or be with Alec. Why Alec?"

"Logan can be really judgemental, and he's got really stiff morals that don't bend. Alec…is more like me. Alec gets what I've gone through and why I've done the things I did in my life and he doesn't judge. He just gets me. With Logan I have to explain a lot of things, but Alec just gets it."

"Tell me Alec, are you worried that Max is still in love with Logan?"

"Yeah, I guess. Sometimes? Most of the time I think so, yeah. I mean, they're not right for each other, and I've said that for a long time now, but they look at each other and get this googly eye thing and they were never really over, you know?"

"Why aren't they right for each other?"

"Logan doesn't understand Max. He keeps thinking she'll change and he constantly uses her as a means to achieve ends in his work and without his work, there's nothing between them. He's from a completely different background – she's from the streets and he's from penthouses. They never seemed to have fun together – it was just a long cycle of "it's over" and "we're not like that." They weren't going anywhere."

"I guess I said yes when Alec asked me out because I was mad and tired of the stupid circle me and Logan kept going through, of hurting each other because we couldn't be together but didn't want to really end it. So I figured trying to move on was a really good way to finally officially end it. So I went out with Alec."

"I think this has been an excellent session, so I think we've got a few important things to discuss now when we all come back together, alright?" The transgenic nodded and walked out of her office as she scribbled quickly on her notepad about things to bring up in their next session.

-x-

"Alright, so I met with both of you in single sessions and I think I'm getting a really clear picture of what's going on for you two. So today, we're going to do this a little different then the last session we did together."

Max's eyebrows shot up, and panic shot down her spine. "Different how?"

The doctor smiled and Alec swore he saw a glimpse of evil in her. "I'm going to ask you questions and I would like you to honestly answer as if your partner wasn't here."

Max shuffled, uncomfortable and Alec choked a little bit. Clearly he needed to reassess how devious Dr. Gibbons was.

"I know you're both very uncomfortable with the process of therapy and you're both very reluctant to open up and share your feelings – especially with each other. So the three of us are going to make a promise."

"Anything said in this room today stays in the room. You can't discuss anything said unless the person who said it brings it up first. Alright?"

Max bit her lip, suddenly completely unsure and feeling very nervous about what kind of questions the doctor wanted to ask them. She met Alec's eyes and he nodded slowly. She nodded back and looked at the doctor.

"Alright, I'll try."

"That's all I'm asking from you, Max. Now I want you two to remember that the answers, while not necessarily the truth of the matter, are the truth of what your partner is feeling and thinks personally based on their own experience. So I will ask that neither of you comment on your spouse's answers." Alec gulped and both he and Max nodded again.

Dr. Gibbons clicked her pen and posed it over her clipboard to write notes. "Yes or no answers only please. Now, Max, does Alec appreciate you?"

She sighed and looked at the floor. "No," she answered firmly. Alec opened his mouth to protest, but the doctor held up her hand.

"Alec, please, you agreed not to comment, and I will ask you questions afterwards." He grumbled under his breath and rested his head in his hand.

"Max, does Alec enjoy your presence?"

Max shrugged. "I guess? Maybe?"

"Yes or no please, Max." Max considered for a minute.

"Uh, no."

Alec sighed, knowing this would clearly not be getting better any time soon.

"Does Alec find you physically attractive?"

"Yes." Max grinned, actually knowing an answer for once. Alec almost smirked, but was far too worried about what the doctor might ask next.

"Does Alec want to have sex with you?"

Finally, an easy question. Max should her head. "No."

Alec was ready to protest again when the doctor glared him into submission.

"Two more questions Max. Is Alec in love with you?"

Max inhaled deeply, her breath caught in the back of her throat. She had no idea why she felt a need to be honest with this woman, but she blamed it on the police undercover couple Logan told them about who failed at this because they lied too much. "No," she answered honestly.

"And finally, does Alec love you?"

She blinked and raised her eyebrows at the doctor. "Aren't they the same thing?"

"Not at all Max. Loving someone is a platonic gesture. You love your parents; you love your siblings, your pets. Being in love with someone is amorous, physical and very often sexual. Do you understand the difference now?"

Max thought about. She thought about how she loved Cindy and her siblings. And then she thought about how she felt about Logan, which she didn't want to classify as 'in love' because as much as she loved and cared about him, there was no sexual connection between them…especially not anymore.

She nodded slowly. She tried to classify Alec in either of those categories, but he didn't seem to fit. He wasn't a brother but she didn't feel about Alec the way she felt about Logan.

"Alright Max, does Alec love you?"

"No." Simple and easy, Alec didn't care about anyone except himself, and definitely not her – he just thought she was a pain in the ass. The thought saddened her, but she wasn't sure why.

"Thank you Max, I know that was very hard for you." The doctor smiled softly at Max, hoping to be comforting as she turned to Alec. "It's your turn Alec. Same thing, just answer with what you think, not with anything you feel obligated to say, okay?"

He swallowed hard and nodded.

"Alec, does Max appreciate you?"

He snorted. Clearly this would be easier for him then it would be for Max. "No," he answered, leaning back against the couch, watching the doctor and trying to ignore Max.

"Does Max enjoy your presence?"

His mouth folded into a firm line. He didn't like having to admit this. "No."

"Does Max find you physically attractive?"

He shook his head. "No."

"Does Max want to have sex with you?"

"No." Wow. This was easier than tying his shoes – he really didn't have to think about the answers – Max made her undying disgust of him clear on a daily basis. It left a cold lump in his stomach.

"Is Max in love with you?"

"No."

"Does Max love you?"

"No." He sighed. Man, this was depressing.

The doctor nodded, sketching notes down on her pad, flexing her foot and humming for a moment. It made Alec want to strangle her. Max settled for just glaring at Dr. Gibbons from her end of the couch.

"Alright. In my professional opinion, your marriage is salvable."

Max blinked slowly then turned to look at Alec who had a similar shocked look on his face. After what she had asked the two of them to admit that day, they had both believed the doctor would declare them hopeless.

"Your problem is you don't know how to tell and show each other what you're feeling, which leaves your partner with doubts and led Alec to seek sexual attention outside of your marriage. I'd like to recommend a counselling program that's hosted at a retreat. It's a two week program that will teach you two how to communicate with your words and actions. Professional counsellors will work with you every day to help put your marriage on track. Here's the number-" she pulled a business card off her desk and offered it to Alec, - "if you two are serious, I have complete faith that if you go to the retreat you'll be able to fix this. So I want you to think about it, and you decide you want to go, just call the number and they'll give you all the details. As far as I know, they can provide paperwork for your employer if you require it as well."

Alec caught Max's eye and nodded. They stood, and Dr. Gibbons stood as well. "For you two, the next step is simply show each other that you're wrong and that you love each other very much. It's easy to see." Dr. Gibbons smiled and held out a hand. "Good luck," she offered.

"Thank you," Alec said, shaking her hand. Max shook the doctor's hand after he did, and the two transgenics left in silence.

After a moment, Max shifted her weight from foot to foot. "So, uh, I guess we go to stage two."

Alec nodded. "Right, the retreat. How many people went missing again?"

Max was determined not to look anywhere near his face, so she settled for the wall over his shoulder. "Eight in three years. Three couples, one man and one therapist."

"The cops didn't find a lead?"

"Not when they looked directly, and they haven't gotten a couple in undercover before us, so we'll be the first."

"Alright. I'll call them when I get home then."

'Yeah. I should get back to work. Will you-"

"I'll cover for us with Normal, no worries."

"Thanks," she bit her lower lip and shifted her weight again, still not really looking at his face.

"I'll see you later then," he nodded and walked past her, careful not to touch her. She wrapped her arms around herself, feeling a sudden chill.

"Later," she whispered, not even sure if he heard her.

-x-


	2. Therapy Sucks

Max and Alec arrived at the Harmony Couple's Retreat, each holding a duffel bag

and trying to stay calm. The retreat grounds were in the woods, with over a dozen cabins for lodging and three large cabins surrounding a large fire pit.

"Oh, look Maxie, maybe they'll let us sing Kumbaya," Alec joked. She glared at him.

"Hi there!" A high squeaky voice called. They both turned to see a blonde in jeans and a low cut sweater jog over to them. Her smile went from ear to ear, and Max already hated her.

"You must be the Bradys! Welcome to the Harmony Couple's Retreat! We are so excited that you're here!" She squealed, clapping her hands together. _Lie,_ Max thought automatically. "We have everything ready for you to get your love back on track!"

Alec pondered why she had to end every sentence with an upbeat note. It was rather annoying.

The woman's perkiness didn't fade. "I'm Jackie and I am here to help guide you on your journey back into love. And you two don't have to worry about a thing because here at Harmony we've never failed to put a couple in the right spot." Her hands flew about as she accentuated what she was saying, the ends of her fingers tipped in baby pink nail polish.

She stopped to tuck her hair behind her ears. "So you're Alex," she looked at Max and then turned to Alec, "and you're Max, right?" she asked, still grinning.

Alec jumped in, afraid Max would maul her. "Actually, I'm Ale_c_," he corrected her, trying to emphasize the ending of his name. "And this is my wife Max."

"Oopsie-daisy!" She giggled, and Max's urge to pummel the woman grew. "Well no worries, we got your file from Dr. Gibbons and we have set up a special program to patch up all your problems. I hope you're excited!"

"Oh, I'm excited alright," Max answered and Alec coughed.

"Great! Now if you'll just follow me…" Jackie proceeded to give them a quick tour, explaining that the smaller cabins were for each couple to have their own private space and that the larger cabins were for group workshops, as well as a mess hall where they served three meals a day. She stopped at the cabin marked "Raccoon" and pulled out a key to get in, leading them inside.

"This is your cabin! For the rest of your stay, you're gonna be Mr and Mrs. Raccoon!"

She handed the key to the cabin to Max and turned around. "You two should take a little while, rearrange or redecorate however you feel – we want you to feel as comfortable here as you do in your own home. Your itinerary for your stay is on the desk. You are allowed to leave the grounds, but we recommend that you spend as much time here as possible to get the full benefit of our retreat. Do you have any questions?"

"Yeah, how many happy pills do you take daily?" Max muttered, and Alec elbowed her in the side.

"Sorry, what was that?"  
"I think we're all good here. Thanks Jackie," Alec answered smoothly, giving their host a grin, which she eagerly returned, batting her eyelashes at Alec.

Max clenched her jaw. They were at a _couples retreat_ and here that woman was, flirting with _her_ husband…not that Max cared, just that it seemed indecent.

"Just call me if you have any questions. We'll see you two at dinner!" Jackie clapped again and walked out of the cabin, closing the door behind her.

Max surveyed the room slowly. There were two large dressers for clothing and the whole room was set up around a king size bed with floral print and large fluffy pillows. She walked over to take a look at the bathroom and a grin broke out over her face. A large Jacuzzi tub with more than enough room for two was in the bathroom, along with a closed stand up shower. The idea of a long hot bath made her so excited she felt the urge to squeal – and quickly squashed it.

Turning around, Alec was pulling his clothes out of his duffel bag and dropping them into a drawer. His eyes darted to the two cameras in the room – which Max scoffed at; they weren't even hidden well. He looked up at her and grinned, grabbed their itinerary and stuffed it into his pocket.

"Well wifey, ready for group therapy?" He smirked, wiggling his eyebrows at her and she glared, closing the door to the bathroom. It was going to be a long two weeks.

-x-

Max and Alec entered the dining cabin to see eight tables pushed together into one straight line. Couples all sat next to each other, eating dinner. Jackie ran over to meet them.

"Hi Mr and Mrs Raccoon, we are so glad you could join us. Come on over and meet the group!"

Jackie tugged them to the center of the table and introduced each of the twelve other couples in turn – each with obnoxious animal names. Wombat, Hawk, Rabbit, Wolf, Monkey…

"…and that's Mr and Mrs. Fox, Mr and Mrs Mouse, Mr and Mrs Frog, Mr and Mr Owl," she pointed to the gay couple holding hands, "Mrs and Mrs Giraffe," the lesbian couple next to them, "Mr and Mrs Koala, and Mr and Mrs Duck." The woman of the last couple she pointed to actually waved at Max and Alec, smiling friendly.

The couples all shifted around so that there was room between the monkeys and the mice for the raccoons to sit down. Jackie clapped her hands excitedly and ran off towards the kitchen.

Two plates were passed over to Max and Alec, and the food started circling by. Both took large helpings of fresh vegetables, chicken, potatoes, and rice. The man on Alec's left nudged him.

"Don't let Jackie scare you, she doesn't do any of the actual therapy or events here, just co-ordinates everything," the man said. Max and Alec nodded focusing on him. The man lifted a hand to Alec. "Hey, I'm Mitch, aka 'Mr. Monkey'" he introduced himself, using obnoxious air quotes and rolling his eyes when adding his retreat name. Gesturing to his right he said, "And this is Mrs. Monkey, Arlene."

Alec held out a hand and shook Mitch's. "I'm Alec and this is Max."

Mitch nodded and passed a basket of bread to Alec, who passed it on to Max. Max snatched up a roll and handed it to the person across from her.

"Any idea what your schedule's like? We can let you know what you're in for," Arlene offered. She seemed nice enough, so Alec shrugged and tugged the piece of paper out of his pocket and handed it to her.

Mr and Mrs Monkey poured over the schedule, stopping occasionally to smile or laugh.

"Looks like you guys are going to be spending some time with Maggie," Arlene commented, and the lesbian couple giggled.

"Who's Maggie?" Max asked.

"The sex therapist."

Both Max and Alec choked.

-x-

Max and Alec sat perfectly still on opposite ends of the couch. The woman sitting on a bean bag chair in front of them was wearing loose jeans and a t shirt, with long blonde hair that had a purple streak down the front. She didn't look like a therapist at all. In fact, if Max had met her on the street, she would've thought that Maggie Thorton was potentially cool.

She smiled gently at both of them, which neither transgenic returned. She sighed. "Look guys, you need to relax. I promise I'm not going to hurt you," she said.

"Yeah, about that. See, Maggie…we're not comfortable discussing our sex life so sex therapy…"

"Is exactly what you need," Maggie interrupted. "Sex therapy is about learning to tell your partner what you want and what you need – it's the biggest problem between you two. So we're going to fix that. You'll also be meeting with my husband Greg, who does a more standard type of couple's therapy."

Max raised her eyes. Maggie seemed kind of young to be married. "You're married?" There was no ring on her finger, unlike the cheap band on Max's hand that seemed to weigh a million pounds.

Maggie grinned. "For six years now," she answered calmly. "Now listen," Maggie said, leaning forward in her chair. "Sex therapy isn't just about fixing your sex life – it's vital for teaching you two how to communicate your own wants, needs, desires, thoughts, likes and dislikes," she folded her hands together. "We're going to make you two feel comfortable telling each other things again. Okay?"

Max gulped and nodded slowly. She was hating this idea already.

Alec nodded once, stern and suspicious.

"So, Alec. Tell me something you find attractive in a woman."

He swallowed slowly, knowing he was clearly on thin ice. "Any woman, Alec. Body parts, personality traits, quirks or habits, anything that attracts you."

"I like women, doc. All shapes and sizes."

Max scoffed. Maggie raised an eyebrow but didn't say anything. "Try to be specific, Alec."

He thought. "I like…uh, legs. Legs are good. And um, long hair." He swallowed past the lump in his throat.

Max shifted uncomfortably. She had legs. And long hair. It didn't mean anything.

Alec grinned roguishly. "I like breasts too. Not huge or anything, but a good solid handful, with some weight to them."

Max looked at her lap. That put her out of the running – she had a nice chest, but her breasts wouldn't be described like that.

"Okay, personality traits?" Maggie asked.

"I like feisty women, who go after what they want. Women who like to have fun, who are really casual."

"And sexually? In bed? Do you prefer to be dominant or submissive?"

"Everybody should get to play."

"If you had to choose?"

"I imagine it would depend on my mood, and hers I guess."

"Okay. Max, what attracts you to a man?"

At the sound of her name, Max snapped out of her daze. And then realized where her thoughts had been heading. And no, it had nothing to do with Alec and sex. Not at all. Not ever.

Alec was watching her, and so was the shrink. Max was suddenly incredibly nervous.

"I don't know."

"Well Max, think about it. Maybe focus on Alec? Just pick body parts that you find attractive."

She could feel his smirk as she glanced at him out of the corner of her eye. It wasn't like he should get a lot of credit for his physical body since Manticore made it.

"Uh, he has really nice…hands." Hands sounded safe. They were kind of generic and okay, yes, they were nice hands and she had heard OC saying something about how he probably knew exactly what to do with them. It seemed like a safe choice.

"Good! Okay, what else?" Maggie was leaning forward, and Max could tell that her eyes were flicking over to Alec's body. She got the feeling like Maggie would happily jump in if Max didn't come up with some more answers.

Oddly, Max felt the urge to growl and demand that Maggie back off of her man.

She breathed in and reminded herself she was only _fake_ married to Alec. This whole thing was fake.

Turning, Max bit her lower lip and started at his feet. They weren't particularly appealing. She let her eyes travel up his body slowly and her mouth started to dry out. Had she ever really looked at Alec before? Because he was extremely well put together.

"He's got nice abs and a good chest…nice arms…."she trailed off when she looked up and noticed he was watching her. But instead of the customary smirk she was expecting, he was looking back at her. His eyes seemed darker then normal.

"Good!" Maggie seemed genuinely excited. "Alec, I know we skipped ahead with Max to you specifically. So what about Max specifically do you find appealing?"

Alec gulped. It wasn't so much fun when the tables were turned.

He covered it with a grin. He shrugged. "Max is hot." He wiggled his eyebrows at Max, who scoffed.

"Okay, but be specific Alec."

He swallowed and looked over Max quickly. "She's got great legs." Maggie nodded, encouraging for him to keep going. He moved his eyes back to her body, letting them linger on her curves. He wasn't about to turn a freebie to make Max feel awkward and scope her out at the same time.

"And hips, and these breasts that look like they'd fit perfectly into the palm of your hand and the fullest lips you've ever seen and she feels really good when she presses up against you," Alec trailed off, realizing that he had let his mouth run away from him.

Maggie smiled and leaned back in her chair.

"Alright, you two did really good work today. I want you to spend the next two days making a point of touching each other more. Hold hands when you walk places. Make sure your legs touch when you sit down next to each other. And when you come to our next session, I want you two to be touching the entire time. Okay?"

They both nodded.

"I don't know if you noticed the cameras, but I want you not to worry about it. They don't pick up sound at all and only Greg and I will watch them, which we generally only do on fast forward. So please don't feel like your privacy is being taken away because we just like to check to see that you're making an effort. So I'll see you next session." Maggie stood, shook both of their hands and flew out the door, leaving it open behind her.

-x-

They spent the next two hours in silence. They went back to their cabin, located all of the cameras and confirmed that there was in fact no sound transmission. Max took a bath, trying to scrub the embarrassment out of her skin. When she emerged, Alec was propped up on the bed, reading.

"I didn't know you liked to read," she mentioned, as she grabbed a brush and started tugging it through her hair.

"Yeah sure, if there's nothing good on TV," he answered, turning the page. She glanced over, focusing on the cover.

"_Les Trois Mousquetaires_," she read, her unpractised tongue tripping over the French – not that she couldn't process what the Three Musketeers would be called in French.

"Dumas wrote a lot of really interesting stuff," Alec answered.

"And you speak enough French to read the book?"

He shrugged. "Yeah."

Max put a hand on her hip. "Why didn't you just get the English version?"

"A lot of stuff gets lost in translation." He answered, going back to his book. Max finished combing her hair and put the brush back on the dresser. She walked around slowly, looking for something to do. She dragged her fingers over the drawer handles.

Alec noticed how bored she was, smirked and folded down the corner of his page, setting his book down on the bedside table.

"Well Maxie, wanna take a walk, do some espionage?"

"Yeah sure, whatever."

-x-

By the time group therapy rolled around, they had assessed that there was exactly two buildings with basements. None of the cabins other than the couple's cabins were locked, and the place seemed very clean.

They divided up into two rooms. Max was assigned to group three, and Alec to group one.

"Okay. So today we're going to talk about opening up to our partners. Everybody in this group seems to have trouble talking about even the most basic of things – family, past lovers, or even our own feelings. So I want to go around and you tell us one thing you've never told your partner about and why you haven't told them."

Greg was heading up this session, after saying that all of the counsellors here rotated and each took a group and discussed general topics for everyone to work on with their partners.

Ellen (Mrs. Duck) went first. "I never told Jake that I was engaged before I met him. I didn't want to be jealous or worry that I was still in love with my ex-fiancé."

Derek (Mr. Hawk) never told his wife that he was upset that they couldn't have kids. Mrs. Wombat had an abortion early in her marriage.

Max had a very lengthy list of things to choose from. The only thing Alec knew was that his clone had been her brother and that Zach's memory had been wiped and that he had been shipped off to live in peace.

She figured she'd stick with the family theme.

"He doesn't know much about my family." She said. "He met one of my brothers, and I told him about what happened to one of my other brothers, but that's it. He doesn't know anything about the rest of my brothers or any of my sisters."

"And why didn't you tell him about them, Max?"

"Because it's none of his business."

Greg turned to fully face her. "Max, what will happen if Alec knows about your family. Do you think he can – or that he _would_ use that information to hurt you?"

She glared at the shrink – because he was clearly off his rocker.

"No."

"So why not tell him?"

"He doesn't want to hear about it." She crossed her arms over her chest.

"Why not?" Greg questioned, a raised eyebrow.

"Because he didn't have a family – I'm not about to remind him of what he didn't have."

"Ah, but that's the thing, Max. You're his family now."

-x-

Alec walked into their cabin and kicked his boots off, looking up to see Max sitting on the bed in the dark. He could see clearly, so he didn't bother to turn the light on.

"Max?" He called. Her shoulders were suddenly still and he realized they had been shaking. He quickly moved around the bed and knelt in front of her. "Hey, was group therapy that bad?" He asked, hoping he was helping.

She smiled and swatted at the tears under her eyes. "Greg just was asking all these questions about my family and stuff and it just reminded made me think about how I much I miss them." Alec nodded, understanding.

"Man, all we talked about was signs that we wanna have sex," he joked. "For the record, I pace and scratch behind my ears more often – since I know you wanted to know." She smiled again, but it wasn't genuine.

He moved beside her and sat down on the bed, lending silent support. Surprisingly, she leaned against him.

_Maybe this therapy thing isn't going to totally suck after all,_ Alec thought.

_This therapy thing sucks,_ Max thought.

-x-


	3. Discoveries

"You've got to be kidding me." Max groaned.

Jackie grinned and just pushed the card further towards her. "Of course not silly! You're going on a scavenger hunt of discovery!"

"Oh joy," Alec muttered under his breath. The perky coordinator didn't catch it.

"Here's your first clue. Remember, at each station you'll be asked to reveal something to your partner. You'll be meeting with your counsellors are the end to talk about what you've learned."

Max sighed. This was clearly going to suck. A lot.

"Oh, and I almost forgot!" Jackie grabbed both of their hands and pushed them together, forcing them to link fingers. She then grabbed a piece of cloth and tied their hands and wrists firmly together – so they couldn't _not_ hold hands. _Joyous_, Alec thought. _I'm tied to Max – and she's feeling homicidal._

The rage he could feel steaming off Max and her desire to murder Jackie was extremely prominent. Jackie, oblivious as always, didn't notice a thing. She giggled, waved and flounced off. No, really – there was flouncing.

Alec flipped the card over and read, "_Head towards the meeting of earth and water for your next clue. On the way: pick one scar on your body and tell your partner how you got it._"

"This whole thing is really stupid," Max scoffed.

"Yeah well, apparently we're getting quizzed when it's over, too. So here," Alec yanked both of their hands to his waist and held his shirt down with their combined hands. He used his free hand to tug at the top of his jeans and push them down slightly. Max gulped as his skin was exposed, she could see the light over his hip bone and there was a small freckle just past his hip. And there, where he was pointing, a small white scar that was a little crooked half moon shape.

Max gulped. It took a lot to scar a transgenic – they healed too well for normal things to scar. The few that she had came with horrible stories. She could only wonder what Alec's were.

"I was in the Congo," he said, tracing the scar with one finger. "On a mission and I got nabbed by these South African nut jobs. I broke out after about three days, but some guard dug this crazy blade in me on my way out. Didn't have anything on me to cauterize or make stitches or a shirt to staunch the blood, so I had to leave the blade in."

He looked up in surprise, and she realized that her free hand had come up to trace over the scar as well, feeling the bump in the flesh. He shivered lightly and she pulled away.

"Well Maxie, time to show some skin." He winked at her and rose up on his toes, trying to further her embarrassment.

Because this wasn't humiliating enough already. She thought for a minute and then grabbed the bottom of her shirt. She yanked up and displayed her torso, stopping just when the bottom of her bra was revealed.

Alec inhaled deeply. The way she unveiled her stomach so that he could see where the curves of her hips started and the dip of her navel, not to mention the fact the line of her bra (which, of course, was black). The long pink scar that jutted out from under the bra and finished just at the bottom of the ribs was very obvious, so she didn't bother to point hers out.

"This is the scar that's left over from when Manticore ripped me open and stuck my dead brother's heart inside after he shot himself so that I could survive." She said coldly, clearly upset. Alec finally met her eyes. The orbs were cold and brown.

He didn't bother complaining that he'd already seen that scar.

"Max," he whispered softly, putting his open hand on her shoulder and squeezing their combined hands. "It wasn't your fault," he soothed.

She glared. "Yeah, it was." She blinked, and any possible tears that had been gathering there were gone. "Now let's go," she tugged on his hand and started marching off.

He tugged back, causing her to turn and face him. "There's a river to the west," he said. "Found it while I was snooping last night. I assume that's what they mean by "the meeting of earth and water.""

She huffed. "Fine," she muttered and resumed stomping, just this time to the west. He sighed and followed – not that he had much choice if he wanted to keep his right hand.

When they reached the river, a large dogwood (if Alec's knowledge of plant life was in any way accurate – it wasn't something they really studied at Manticore, just something he had picked up) had a large envelope stuck to it. Max snatched it down and opened it.

"_Cross the waves to where you rest your head; find a staff to lean on. Tell your partner what you want to name your first child._" 

"Back to our cabin?" Alec suggested, Max nodded.

They ignored the question until about half way, when Alec decided to risk it.

"So Maxie, what do you think? Alec and Max junior? Or maybe we should switch it up and have Alex and Mac." He mused, smirking.

"Very funny." She wasn't laughing. Her voice was cold and hard, and Alec's brows knitted together.

"What's wrong?"

She spun on him. "You really think we'll ever have the chance to have children? Have families? With White and the governments hunting down our asses? Half of us are hiding in places like Terminal City and the rest of us are on the run! Do you really see children in the cards for us?" She glared, and he put a hand on her shoulder.

"Yeah, I do. Not right now, but eventually."

She rolled her eyes.

"Max, you don't get it. We have the chance to do that now. To have families. To be people. You gave that to us."

She looked down and away, so he grabbed her chin and forced her attention back to him.

"You broke us out. And yeah, it sucks right now and it's going to be hard as hell and a lot of people are going to say the fight isn't worth us and it's not going to be truly safe probably till after we're gone, but you broke us out and gave us the chance to be free – and that means we have the chance to have families, Max. I get that your scared to dream – Manticore took that from all of us. But when you broke us out, you made it okay to want something for ourselves again, Max. So don't be afraid to want things, not anymore. _They_ can't take that away from us anymore."

He ignored the water in her eyes and she ignored the pride and strength he beamed at her when she squeezed his hand back. And in that instant, she realized that she might not be the only one who wanted to dream.

-x-

Greg smiled in front of them, flipping through the paperwork of their results. They'd finished the horrible scavenger hunt two hours ago, where Jackie had greeted them and released them from their handcuffs. Of course, they'd been tired, so they didn't notice and continued holding hands until they reached their cottage.

Neither of them was willing to think about what that might mean.

They were squished together on a tiny brown love seat that forced them to sit with their thighs perfectly aligned – which they were supposed to do anyway. Clearly the Thorton therapist couple were far too interested in their own ideas and didn't trust the couples not to ruin them.

"I'm very pleased with your results," the therapist said, continuing to flip through pages. Alec wondered who did the write up. He saw Max yawn out of the corner out of his eye, and wanted to ask about when she'd slept last – she certainly hadn't for the two days they'd been at the retreat.

"You two finished the puzzle in eight minutes and fourteen seconds," Greg continues, whistling for effect.

Max barely acknowledged it.

"Without talking," he added. Alec shrugged. For some reason, despite being a therapist, Greg didn't seem to mind when they didn't talk much. "No, no, it's a good thing! A great thing!" He continued.

"I'm very impressed. In fact, you two work very well together. You're an amazing team – one of the fastest to finish the course."

Max gulped, worried that they were over-exposing themselves as transgenics by being too impressive with everything they were doing. Solving the puzzle without talking, finishing the scavenger hunt too quickly would probably start to be suspicious. She hadn't slept the last two nights, so she was probably screwed as soon as they reviewed the tapes.

And then they'd get thrown out of the retreat and more people would go missing. That was definitely bad.

"Do you know what this tells me?" Greg leaned forward, closing the booklet and tossing it on the table between them.

"That you either need a more complicated scavenger hunt or a smarter client base?" Alec joked. Max's arm shot out and slapped him over the head. Though personally, she kind of agreed.

"That all of your problems with each other come from talking," he said. Both transgenics' eyes shot up at the statement.

"What?" they both said.

"Whenever you two talk to each other, that's when the problems kick in. If you don't talk, you two could be one person. You're perfectly in sync."

They continued to blink at him, processing.

"You two have forgotten how to be honest with each other. When you talk, all of the defensive stuff and the sarcasm and the jokes comes out and creates more barriers between you. So that means I'm going to ask you to implement a brutal honesty policy."

"Brutal honesty..." Max repeated. Alec's leg was bouncing up and down.

"It means that for the rest of the trip, you can't lie to your partner. At all. No little white lies, no half truths, none of it. You can't not answer questions, you have to be totally truthful. If Alec asks you about something you hate, you have to be honest. And Alec, if Max asks you about something you love, you have to be honest about that. Okay?"

Alec nodded, slowly and unsure. Max shrugged. "Fine. No biggie."

"Alright then." Greg leaned forward and grabbed a different set of notes from the table. "Alec, I'd like you to tell me about Max's family."

Inwardly, Max groaned. He didn't know much, and this was totally cheating if that stupid therapist could bring up things from group. Didn't patient-confidentiality exist?

"Uh, she comes from a big family. Lots of siblings. There was uh, Ben, and Zach, and uh…" Alec licked his lips, trying to think of something. But for some reason, he was compelled to stick to the honesty policy. Not because he cared about the retreat, but because he didn't want to make up things about Max's family when they were obviously so important to her.

Greg nodded. "Max, how many siblings do you have?"

Max inhaled slowly. "Nine," she said. Alec put a supportive hand on her shoulder, feeling her tense. "Used to be fourteen," she whispered so quietly Alec was surprised the therapist caught it.

"I'm sorry for your losses, Max. Could you name them please?"

"Which ones?"

"All of them, please."

Alec squeezed her shoulder as she started to go through the list.

"Uh, okay. Jondy, Zane, Kavi, Vada, Seth" she breathed slowly, trying to keep herself calm.

"Brin," a memory flashed before her eyes – handcuffing Brin to the inside of Manticore. She wasn't even sure if she was alive.

"Syl, and Krit" – leaving for the mission to destroy the DNA lab.

"Jace" – waving goodbye to Jace as the bus to Mexico drove away.

"Tinga" – she hiccupped a bit of a sob, remembering holding Tinga's soaking, naked, cold body in her arms.

"Ben," – she heard Alec's breath catch, and knew he was remembering his own connections to his twin, but all she could see was the look on his face and the sound of his neck cracking.

"Zach" – watching her brother be wheeled away and out of her life forever, never to remember her or their siblings who he had dedicated his life to.

Alec wrapped his arm around her shoulder for support, and used his other hands to grab one of hers and squeezed. Her fingers threaded through his and squeezed back.

"Jack" – his body, with the large slits of autopsy stitched up as if he could heal from death.

"And Eva," – her body falling into her arms after Lydecker shot her.

"Thank you, Max. I know that was very hard for you to do."

She angrily wiped her tears away from her face and swallowed hard, trying to redeem her dignity.

Max was really grateful when Greg shifted his attention away from her."Alec, how do you feel when you hear about Max's family?"

"Uh, surprised I guess. She doesn't talk about her family much."

"Other than that?"

"Well, it's upsetting I guess. I feel really bad that she's had to go through all of those things, losing some of her siblings. I feel kind of angry that I can't do anything about it, too." He was surprised at how easy the honesty came to him, after so many years of lying. He guessed it was just a matter of talking about the right things. Some topics just aren't worth lying about.

"Do you in any way resent her because Max has a family and had one as a child and you didn't?"

Alec raised his eyebrows. "No. We had different childhoods. Neither were easy, and maybe I can wish parts of mine were different, but that doesn't mean I'm going to hate Max for something she didn't have much control over."

"Interesting choice of words." Alec glared at the therapist, hoping he'd back off. Thankfully, he did.

"Alec, I want you to try to make a point of showing Max that you're comfortable with her talking about anything and everything to you. Especially things that are very important to her – like her family." Alec nodded.

"Max, I want you to work on being more open with Alec. Tell him what you're thinking more often, even when it seems inconsequential. And learn not to be afraid to tell him about the big things." Max bit her lower lip, not loving the idea. Alec nudged her and she nodded along with what the doctor was saying.

"Right now," she inhaled and met Alec's eyes. "I'm hungry." Alec chuckled.

Greg glanced at his watch and jumped up. "Oh, yes. It's dinner time. You two should go off and eat, and remember to spend your time after dinner tonight talking. About everything and anything and with brutal honesty."

"Sure. Thanks doc." Alec shook Greg's hand as he did at the end of every session, and started to leave, Max in tow.

"Oh, and don't forget to keep touching each other. You have a session with my wife in the morning on practices for re-stimulating your sex life."

"Oh goodie," Max mumbled as the two transgenics walked out the door.

-x-

After dinner, Alec came out of the shower with a towel wrapped around his waist and a hand running through his damp hair.

Max made a point of not looking. Ever since Maggie made them look at each other – really look at each other, she'd been noticing Alec's body more and more. It was making her very uncomfortable – in the "there's an extremely attractive man nearby and I haven't had sex in a year" kind of way.

"So, I was thinking we'd go check out basement number one tonight," Alec suggested, walking over to the dresser. He started pulling out black clothes.

"Yeah, sure. Which one?"

"The one under the cafeteria. I'm kind of tired, and I'm really hoping that it's just storage space, but it still takes a couple of possibilities off of our list," he continued. He turned around and tossed a red sweater over his shoulder at her.

"Okay." She yawned and Alec turned, now having pants on and his towel rubbing through his hair.

"Maybe you should actually sleep tonight, Max."

She shrugged. "I'm fine."

"And I share a brother with Joshua," his sarcastic reply came back.

"Considering our origins and DNA, that may not be entirely as impossible as you think," she smiled sweetly.

"Please. Cat. Dog. We are nowhere near each other." He added. "But seriously, Max, I won't bite. You can sleep. Plus, it's going to look suspicious." He tried playing the reasonable suggestion card.

"I'll think about it. You ready to go?"

He pulled a t shirt on over his head and then zipped up a sweater on top of it. "Sure."

They made their way over to the door and he let his gaze wander over how the sweater and the pants she was wearing fit her so loosely, and let himself think about the parts they were concealing.

Oh yeah, "re"-stimulating their sex life was exactly what they needed.

-x-


	4. Game On

Maggie grinned at the two of them as Max fidgeted on the couch. She was starting to really dislike couches. In fact, when she got home she might just burn hers to the ground.

Alec was next to her, with his right knee bouncing up and down. It was really annoying her so she punched him in the arm. He glared in return.

"So, you two haven't had sex in quite a while," Maggie stated. Max crossed her arms and raised an eyebrow at the psychiatrist – who didn't even bat an eyelash. Alec was impressed, considering Max could be freaking terrifying when she wanted to be.

"I'd like to spend today focusing on how to re-stimulate your sex life." She pointed to the two pads of paper and the pens sitting on the coffee table in front of them. "I want you each to make a list of five things your partner could do to help improve your sex life. Things like giving massages, or wearing lingerie, or introducing sex toys, or performing more oral sex, dirty talk, anything you like that you think would help stimulate sex." Max blushed a bit when she got to 'sex toys', but Alec just grinned and snatched up his pad, happily writing down.

Max inwardly groaned. She knew he was out to embarrass her and have way too much fun all at the same time.

But two could play that game! She felt her competitive side flare up and push her to embarrass him right back.

So she picked up her pad and made an effort to come up with five things that would make Alec uncomfortable. She liked the giving massages one, but the rest sounded like things that Alec would just smirk at and not be the least bit phased by. She bit her lip.

By the time they were finished, Maggie was smiling and had her notebook perched back in front of her.

"So, Max, read me the first thing on your list."

"Massages." Max answered calmly, smirking at Alec.

Alec just winked at her, and she tried not to seethe anger.

"Any specific place?" Maggie asked. Max was starting to wonder if anything made this woman uncomfortable.

"Uh, my back I guess." Not that she'd thought about it.

"Okay, Alec, what about you?"

"I'd like Max to sleep naked."

"Excellent suggestion!" Maggie agreed. "Max, have you thought about sleeping naked? It's very common for many men to want their wives to sleep naked as a way of showing that they're open to sex that night."

"You want me to sleep naked?" Max asked Maggie.

"I think it's a great idea. Why don't you try it?"

Max had the overwhelming urge to growl at the woman, but tried to reign in her thoughts.

Alec smirked. He was enjoying this way too much – riling up Maxie and having the shrink team up with him on it? Plus hey, if he somehow magically got to see Max naked out of the deal, that'd just be awesome. Max is hot. Hot, naked women are always a good thing.

"Max, what's next on your list?"

"I want Alec to stop flirting with other women." Max smirked as Alec's grin fell.

Maggie nodded and jotted down notes. "You know, Alec, I've noticed your flirting too. And what I think you don't realize is that when you flirt with other women, you're telling Max that they have qualities you prefer and that you view them in superiority to her, and that you'd rather be with them than with her."

"But-" Alec tried to interrupt, but Maggie held up a hand.

"I know you see it as harmless, but I think you should focus your flirtations on your wife. It's a great way to remind her that you still find her appealing sexually, intellectually and other ways."

"On the other hand, Max, you shouldn't be afraid to flirt with Alec. Compliment him every once in a while – tell him when you find him attractive or sexually appealing."

Alec looked deep in thought for a minute, until Maggie prodded him for the next suggestion on his list.

"Oh, I definitely think Max needs to talk dirty."

Max swore under her breath.

"Max, what do you think of that?" Max merely glared at the woman, who nodded in response. "Alec, would you be comfortable talking dirty, during foreplay and/or intercourse?"

Alec's grin couldn't possibly get any wider. "Absolutely."

"Well, what if you initiated it and Max can join in when she feels comfortable and ready to try it?"

"I think that's a great idea, doc. Should I start now?" He winked.

"Tell you what Alec, you can try it as soon as you two have some alone time." The therapist smirked at him and Max grumbled again. "Okay, Max, what's number three on your list?"

She inhaled slowly trying to calm herself. She smiled sweetly. "I'd like it if Alec tried to romance me more often." She quirked an eyebrow. "His idea of a romantic evening is asking if he should bother waiting up for sex." She crossed her arms and pouted to add to the effect, silently thinking _take that_.

Maggie nodded. "Alec, what a lot of men don't realize is that for women foreplay starts everywhere. Doing the dishes or flirting before dinner, putting that extra amount of effort into trying to show a romantic side means she can make the emotional connection that leads to lusting for a physical connection."  
"So I have to make pasta and buy flowers?" He groaned, every joke he'd ever made about Logan coming back to haunt him.

"No, no! Cooking doesn't have anything to do with romance. Too many couples think of romance as one taking over certain chores for the other one. But really it's just reminding each other that you care about each other. Little things. Call her during the day and tell her you're thinking about her. Let her relax when she comes home from work. It's not about the big gestures. It's the little ones that make your marriage last."  
"I think you two really need to start putting some more effort back into your marriage and you're going to find that your spark isn't gone, it's just hiding."

-x-

Max walked out of her shower to see Alec sitting on the bed with a grin on his face that downright frightened her.

"Max, how was your shower?" He stood and moved closer to her. She instinctively took a step back and backed up into the wall.

"It was fine, Alec."  
"Oh, good." He crowded into her space and started running a finger up and down her bare arm, and she shivered.

"Alec, I think the therapy's getting to you," she mumbled, trying to move away from him, but he blocked her by throwing his arm against the wall, trapping her. He leaned in close and nuzzled against her neck.

"Look," he whispered gruffly. "The cameras turn off from two AM to six AM," he mouthed hotly against her ear and moved a leg between hers as she squirmed, but calmed when she realized he was just covering. Mentally she kicked herself for not paying as much attention to the cameras as he did. Apparently he'd spent their nights clocking the humming sounds the damn things made while she sat rigidly still, paranoid that they might touch.

Throwing an arm over his shoulder and turning her head away to look like she was giving him access to her neck, he took it as a sign to continue.  
"So I'm thinking that we kill some time, go to sleep and around three take a look at the warehouse under the administration building. Hopefully it'll be more interesting than under the cafeteria," he muttered the last bit. She chuckled a bit, remembering his reaction to finding all of the ingredients to their meals.

She nodded, and gulped a little, feeling his chest pressed up against her, rising and falling as he moved his head down her neck, making it look like he was paying attention to her erogenous zones but really just breathing on her.

Which really, really, shouldn't have affected her as much as it did.

"And how did you want to kill time, exactly?" The minute she asked, she regretted it, knowing he'd use the opportunity against her.  
He pulled back to look her in the eye and his grin was absolutely devious. "Well Maxie, I was thinking we'd try that massage."

Alarm bells went off and steam nearly poured from her ears as she shoved him away from her. "Get over yourself," she spat out glaring at him. He shrugged and grabbed her wrist, tugging her towards the bed.  
"No, really, Max. We have to at least look like we're trying the stuff the doc's are telling us to do, so here goes," and with that he snatched her up from around the waist and carried her over to the bed. She squirmed and pounded on his chest and tried to escape his grasp for the entirety of the two feet he had to walk, so he dropped her on the bed. She bounced up and down a little when she landed and her hair fell on her face.

"On your front, Maxie," he commanded.

She glared back. "No way," she protested.

He groaned and sat down on the edge of the bed, rubbing his eyes. "Max, you suck at being under cover, you know that?"  
She crossed her arms and looked away from him, refusing to budge on the subject.

"Look, Max, either you get on your front and let me rub your back or we try some of the doctor's other suggestions. So by all means, if that's what you prefer, get naked."

She tapped her toe for a minute, rolling the suggestions from their sex therapy suggestion over in her head, making a show of putting up a resistance. With a loud 'humph!' she rolled onto her front, sticking her arms under her chin with her feet towards the pillow.

Alec shook his head and climbed over her, straddling her and sitting on top of her ass. "Hey! Personal space!" she yelled.

He looked down at her and shook his head. "You gave up your right to personal space when you said 'I do'."  
"I would never say I do to you in my right mind," she grumbled, twisting so she could stare up at him.

"Well you weren't in _your_ right mind, you were in Logan's right mind. And now you've learned how scary a place that is," he retorted sharply.

"He's trying to help people!"

"Could you stop complaining for thirty seconds of my day, please? I'm not the one who said let's go play Mr and Mrs freaking Raccoon, but at least I'm trying to be convincing."

She didn't have a particularly wonderful comeback for that one, so she just pouted, which faded the instant Alec started rubbing soothing circles up and down her back. By the time he actually started kneading her back and working out the knots in her muscles, she was ready to purr.

Alec smirked as she fell silent and recognized it when she finally relaxed into his hands as he worked through her back, starting with her neck and shoulders and moving down her spine, systematically finding every knot and gently pushing it apart so her muscles could unwind.

She was half asleep when he finished, so he just tugged her up and slid her under the covers on her side. Max snuggled down into the pillow and sighed happily, dead asleep.

He rolled his eyes. "Tomorrow you are so sleeping naked," he mumbled before tugging his shirt off and climbing in bed next to her.

-x-

Max woke up and checked the clock. 2:15AM glared bright back at her in red font, half an hour before Alec set the alarm for.

She wiggled a bit and realized that Alec was in fact snuggled against her. One arm was wrapped securely around her waist holding him against her and his legs were tangled with hers.  
Growling a little, Max squirmed but his grip on her waist seemed to loosen only until she stopped moving before tightening again. Sighing she laid back down and thought about what he had said earlier.  
She _did not_ suck at being undercover. She was just as good as he was.  
She just...sucked at being Alec's wife.  
That option didn't seem particularly appealing either. Not that she had any desire to be _Alec's_ wife but she didn't want to suck at being a wife. She could be a wife if she wanted to. In fact, she could rile him up just as much as he thought he could get under her skin.  
Alec let out a deep breath and tugged on her again, as if she could press anymore against him.  
Fine. He wants a wife, he'll get a wife.

She forced herself to snuggle back against him as she waited out the rest of the half hour.

When the alarm went off, her eyes were closed. She wasn't being sneaky, she just wanted to see what Alec would do.  
Alec sat up and rubbed the sleep from his eyes, looking down to see Max pressed against him. He shook his head. She'd scream if she could see herself now. He leaned across her and slapped the alarm clock so it turned it off. Then he rolled out of bed gently, trying not to wake her.  
She sat up and yawned, looking over at him. She stood and stretched, walking over to the dresser and tossed a pair of dark cargos and a black t shirt at him, pulling out her own recon outfit.  
He blinked twice then full out stared when she stripped down and changed in front of him. When she finished she turned on her heel and raised an eyebrow at him. "What?"  
"Who are you and who kidnapped Max?" He asked, suspicious.  
"I just figure married couples don't change in separate rooms, dumb ass."  
_Now that's Max._  
She walked up to him, wrapped her arms around his neck and pushed up on her tiptoes so she could whisper in his ear. "You'll see just how good a wife I can be," her voice dropped low, deep and husky and he found his breath hitch a little. But by the grin on her face when she sank back down to the floor, he knew she had caught it.  
Grabbing her by the arms, he turned her around so she was pressed between his chest and the wall. He slid his leg between hers, pushing up lightly so she could feel his thigh, he bent his head down to her ear.  
Making a point of taking a long inhale at her neck and coming up to her, he gently nipped her ear. "Game on, Maxie."

/|x|\ 


	5. Pushing Boundaries

They'd gotten in late from checking out the last basement, returning with the personnel and therapy files of everyone who had gone missing. They'd both just climbed into bed after hiding the files. Despite Alec's argument, Max refused to sleep naked.

She couldn't sleep so she just faked it. She spent most of the time thinking about the files and what might be in them. They'd agreed that since they had a rather light day tomorrow (which technically, Max supposed was now today) and their therapy sessions ended before two in the afternoon, they'd use their free time to ride back to Seattle and get the files to Logan to see what he could find.

So while Alec slept beside her, she plotted ways to drive him crazy and to be an excellent wife all at the same time. As the sun rose and the minutes flicked by, she had a pretty good plan figured out.  
Alec had rolled a little while sleeping, and was now a foot away from her, but was facing her after his last roll. So she pushed herself backwards until she was right up against him.

Max was surprised at the way he automatically curled around her, his body moulding against hers. Of course, she nearly had a heart attack when he pressed his morning boner up against her butt. She forced herself to slow down her breathing to its regular state and thought about it. Its morning, its completely natural.

He rolled again, slinging an arm over her waist and burying his face into her hair. He sighed contentedly and whispered "Max" in his sleep. She felt the need to kick his ass for pawing at her like this, but this was just instinct. They'd been around each other for long enough that their bodies would subconsciously recognize each other, that was all.

Alec had been awake since the second Max moved over to him but had been far too curious to see what she was going to do. He'd thought that sniffing her hair would be a little much, but he she'd seemed to buy it. He hadn't even meant to say her name; it just kind of slipped out because she smelt damn good. Of course, when she started to move against him he nearly blew his cover, among other things.

Max slowly started rotating her hips so that her ass grinded against his morning hard on, rolling back against Alec. She wasn't sure how long she could get away with this before he woke up, but she was hoping long enough so that he'd be on edge for the rest of the day. She felt an odd rush of power, knowing full well what she was doing. His grip on her seemed to tighten and he was moving against her. He was probably in the middle of some sex dream about whatever bimbo he'd been hooking up with.

Alec was freaking out. His mind was screaming 'what the hell is she doing?' but his body was enjoying this way too much to give this up...at least for another minute or so.

Max gulped surprised at how much this seemed to be affecting her as well. Sure, the rush of power was explainable, but the increased heart and breathing rates, the surge of lust and desire to roll over and wake him up to finish this took her by surprise. She started to slow herself down to try and get herself under control when Alec suddenly rolled on top of her, pinning her arms under her head, straddling her body.

"What's the matter, Maxie?" His voice was deep, throaty and he was breathing hard. He pushed his hips down against hers, and she had to bite down on a groan that wanted to wrench its way past her lips. _It's just because you haven't had sex in forever, Max. You'd react like this to Sketchy, for god's sake._ "Didn't you want to finish what you started?"

She tried to slow her breathing, and closed her eyes to help. When she opened them, he was hovering over her, their noses nearly touching, and his eyes were intensely dark. Her breath got caught in her throat and she just stayed there for a moment, her eyes locked on his.

Suddenly she snapped back to her senses. She wiggled one hand free and hit him over the head. "Get the hell off me, Alec."

"I figured," he smirked. He rolled off her, stalking into the bathroom and closing the door. She grumbled, realizing she had just lost round one of their little game. Running a hand through her hair, she stood up and walked over to the dresser and pulled out some clothes for the day, pulling them on while thinking hard about the moment that passed before she'd pushed him off of her. Luckily, they had group therapy and then individual therapy today, so she didn't have to spend her time stuck in some weird tense place between the two of them as she tried to figure it out.

She stalked off and left for group before he got out of the shower, hoping to clear her head.

Alec walked out of the bathroom and scratched his head. He looked around and saw that Max had left already. He rolled his eyes. Typical Max, can't even take a joke. He slammed his fist against the wall. He should've known that he'd been pushing Max too far.

He sighed and glanced at the clock. He'd get dressed and go to group. They'd slept through breakfast and his stomach rumbled, but for once he didn't care.  
-x-  
Alec's group was small today; there was only five of them. Him, Mr. Moose, Mrs. Doe (a new addition, her and her husband had arrived two days ago), Mr. Monkey and Mrs. Frog. Apparently, everyone in the circle had been cheated on, or was a cheater themselves, and the idea was for everybody to share their experience so everyone could get a better idea of how this affected their partner.

Max's group, oddly, was all women. Her, Moose, Monkey, Koala, Duck, one of the Giraffe women and a handful of others she had totally forgotten were sitting in a circle. Maggie was leading the group trying to get all the women opening up about how they try to create co-dependencies in their marriages and show their partners that they need them.

Mrs. Frog was talking about how she'd felt when her partner cheated on her. "It was like a giant sign saying 'you're not wanted' and everybody could see it hanging over my head. He didn't want me, he wanted _her,_ and she was young and perfect and amazing and I was old and boring and washed up. I'm around to take care of our daughter. We used to be partners and it was like a huge slap in the face, like he'd found somebody else he'd rather be partners with. Like I stopped being his wife and was just the mother now. And it hurt. I don't feel sexy or wanted or even loved anymore. He's tried to start sex but it feels like he's just trying to placate me, not like he wants me. And how do I know that he's not just seeing her when we're together, or thinking about her and wishing it was her instead of me? I just don't know how to feel secure in our marriage anymore."

"It's so hard to try and share myself with Eddie," Monkey started. "I've been taking care of myself for so long. I've been beat up and let down and people always leave. They pack up and they ditch you to take care of themselves. So I took care of myself, because nobody else was going to. And so the idea of letting him help me is really scary. Because what if he leaves like everybody else? And what if I forget how to take care of myself because I let him do it for a while? I guess that's insecure of me to just assume he'll leave, but it's what I've come to expect from people. I don't know how to just let him take care of me."

"Marianne and I were on the rocks; have been for two years. And we weren't having sex, and it felt like we barely spoke to each other. I met the other woman at work and she smiled at me. I couldn't remember the last time Marianne did even that. It felt good just to be desired."

"I guess I found it pretty easy from the beginning to open up and rely on Jack. I work for a trauma survivor's group and a lot of the time when I get home, I'm depressed and tired. Jack... he picked up on it. He never asked or pushed but he'd make dinner and hold me and just let me cry and do everything in my own time. And I just started relying on him more and more to be there when I needed him. I know that I can pick up the phone and he'll come running. I just trust him completely."

"So, Alec, why don't you tell us about your experience?" Greg asked. Alec nodded and gulped.  
He'd been listening carefully to the others, but he hadn't been able to get this morning off his mind. So he let his training take over and he used it.

"With Max, it's not a physical thing. I mean, you guys have seen her," he smirked as Monkey nodded and Moose laughed. "She's gorgeous and totally sexy, for god's sake the woman rides a motorcycle."

"So what was the problem, Alec?" Greg pushed, trying to get him to move on. Too bad, Alec rather liked talking about Max's body.

"Max gets really weird about sex. We waited forever before we had our first time and a lot of the time we start to get into it and she just shuts off. Just pushes me off and walks away, lost in her own little world. And I don't have a clue why. I can't get her to explain it to me. After a while I got really frustrated. I went to a bar to drink it out of my system and this woman just approached me and I was drunk and, yeah. I wasn't trying to hurt Max, it just sort of happened." He was surprised how remorseful he seemed to sound, as even the ones who had been cheated on were looking at him with sympathy and sadness in their eyes.

-

Max was up. She was supposed to talk about how she was letting Alec in, or shutting him out.

"I don't know what to say." Wow, she'd gotten so good at this honesty thing.

"Well Max, do you talk to Alec about your problems more often or not?" Maggie asked, tilting her head to the side.

"I guess not." She shrugged.

Maggie continued to push. "Well, why not?"

_Because we've known each other for a year during which time all we do is fight, commit crime or try to kill each other._ "I guess because Alec's not a serious guy. He's goofy, he likes to joke around and have a good time. He tends to deflect if you ask about him, just shrugs it off and goes _'I'm always alright'_". She let her voice drop as she mimicked him. "And I guess it's hard to open up to somebody who doesn't open up to you."

"Okay Max, but what if he's thinking the same thing?"

"Then I guess we're screwed." Max crossed her arms over her chest and leaned back in her chair. She couldn't wait to get out of this stupid place.

-x-  
Today, individual therapy meant being grilled by both Maggie and Greg as a combo so they could share their notes with you about your progress so far and talk about how to keep going.

"Alec, we're pleased with your efforts to improve your sex life." Maggie started, smiling at him.

Alec smirked. "Well doc, I like to get up and go." He wiggled his eyebrows.

"However, we want you to focus more on your emotional bonds with Max. You two don't seem to sit down and talk very often." Greg flipped through his notes and crossed his legs so one ankle was resting over his other knee, his foot stopping just beside the small television and video player in the room. "You both have lost the ability to talk openly about your feelings and when that comes, I suspect your sex life will just snap into place."

Maggie was nodding her agreement. "What you need to do for now is twofold. You need to show Max that she can feel safe opening up to you by opening up to her. Start with something little – like what you felt about your therapy today. If you hate me and Greg-"

"I don't hate-" Alec tried to interrupt.

"That's great Alec. But if you did, we'd want you to talk about it with Max. If you're annoyed at something, tell her. How often did you talk to Max about your jealousy?"

"You mean Logan? I didn't. Max is a big girl. She's going to do what she wants." He crossed his arms over his chest.

"Do you feel possessive of Max?"

"I don't think possessive is the right word. She's my wife; that doesn't make her mine. I'm protective of her, I guess."

"Okay, well what goes through your head when I show you this?" Greg grabbed the remote off the table and clicked it on. The television was fuzzy with white noise for a moment, and then snapped into focus. It showed Max talking to one of the male employees at the camp. They were standing close together and he saw Max laughing. There was no sound, just like they'd promised at the beginning, but he knew what Max laughing looked like. Then she flipped her hair over her shoulder.

Max was _flirting_. _Max_ was flirting.

That didn't seem right.

Max didn't flirt. Maybe with Logan, but not with random guys who Alec didn't recognize. There wasn't even anything special about this guy. He wasn't ugly but he wasn't like, transgenic attractive either. Hell, Logan was better looking. Maybe.

Alec felt the odd urge to growl. He instantly flashed back to the last time he'd felt that, when X5-683 had been talking to one of the guards and it made Alec uneasy.

So that's what that was. It was just his protective instincts. He and Max had spent enough time together; he must subconsciously recognize her as part of his unit. It was just protective, that was all. The shrinks didn't know what they were talking about.

"Alec?" Maggie called and he snapped his eyes up to her. "You were thinking pretty hard there," she said, smiling softly like he'd proved their point.

"Yeah, I guess."

"Well Alec, what we'd like you to do today is write a letter to Max. Sometimes the hardest part is actually looking at the person you're talking to, so we're going to start small. You can say anything you like, no one except Max will read it. We're going to ask her to write as well. Just be completely honest about how you feel, about anything. You can tell her that you want to make your marriage work or that Logan drives you crazy or that you wish she'd feel more comfortable around you or anything that's on your mind, okay?"

Alec nodded, ideas running through his mind of possible things to say to Max. "Yeah, sure."

"Great! There's pens and paper in the desk in your cabin. Bring your letter with you to tomorrow's session."  
-x-

Max sat on the couch forcing herself not to glare at the two therapists sitting in front of her. They were both staring at her intently.

"You were very closed off today during group, Max." Greg started, softly.

"I guess I wasn't feeling very chatty," she snarked.

"Well, I have another theory." Maggie said. She nodded to Greg, who hit a button on his remote. The camera view of their cabin popped up and as the video started, she could see herself pinned under Alec, the two of them staring at each other.

Now this was exactly the moment in her life she wanted to relive.

The therapists said nothing; they just watched the tape as Max pushed Alec away and left.

"What happened there, Max? Everything was going great, you're both clearly into it... why'd you push him away?" Maggie leaned forward while Greg stopped the tape.

Max bit down on her tongue to keep from biting back an insult at the therapists about being peeping toms. To be honest, the same question had been rolling around in her head since she walked out on him this morning. Well, less of why she stopped and more as to why she let it go on so far in the first place.

Greg's eyebrows wrinkled and he leaned forward. "You don't have an answer, do you?" His voice was soft and he sounded almost sympathetic to her confusion.

"No, I don't," she whispered, letting the truth come out.

"That's okay, Max. You're allowed to not have all the answers." Maggie's voice also dropped into the soft tone that Greg had used.

And in that moment, something in Max snapped when she met his eyes.

She felt the urge to cry, just from those words, that it was okay to be lost and not know where you're going. Between trying to save the world with Logan, trying to save the transgenics (with and including Alec), trying to find a cure so she and her not-like-that sort-of boyfriend could touch without him dying and trying to earn enough money to eat, parts of herself seemed to fall by the wayside. It was just so much _trying_.

"The only problem is that you don't tell Alec. You shut him out – that's what you did this morning and that's what you've been doing ever since you found out about the affair. But the more you shut him out, the more damage you do to your marriage. And sooner or later, Max, you're going to find that there's too much to fix." 

-x-

Max stomped back to their cabin, glowering at the sign on the door that read "Mr. And Mrs. Raccoon." She ripped it off and slammed the door behind her when she entered the stupid shack, throwing the sign on the floor angrily.

Alec was there, waiting for her so they could drive back to the city and talk to Logan. He sat up and looked at her with concern when she kicked the sign even further away from her.

"What's wrong?" No jokes, no teasing; just straight up.

"Congratulations. Apparently, I'm sabotaging our marriage." She grumbled. Alec's frown deepened a little and then he let it go, assuming Max didn't want to talk about it.

"You ready to get out of here?"

"Oh god, yes."


End file.
